Rewarding Negative Behavior

By Shamus Posted Friday Jun 29, 2007

Filed under: Personal 31 comments

This week I posted almost nothing, aside from the comics. I realize that for a majority of my current readers this site is “The Comic, plus some other stuff”, but I still think of it as “my blog, plus this comic I’m doing.” For me, this week was hopelessly lame, because I didn’t get any of my writing done. I still have about a dozen half-written posts waiting to be finished. (I’m finished with Prey, I’m playing D&D again, and I’m working my way through a new anime series, all of which I intend to write about. Eventually.)

And now that I’ve utterly failed in my blogging duties, I see that many, many new people are visiting site and clicking the everlovin’ crap out of the ads in the sidebar. (BTW: Thanks. Seriously. Profusely. You people are great. I hope you found something good.) I can’t explain this upsurge in traffic this month (more than double last month) during the time in the year when I usually see a lull in traffic. Visits usually slow down in summer, but instead traffic is going way up. To all of you who are new to the site, thanks for coming. Have a look around the archives, if you like, maybe read some of my “best of” posts. Maybe visit some of my friends over there in my blogroll. Or just wait for the next comic, if that’s more your style. That’s cool too. You know. Whatever.

I will say this: If I were to do another comic – and I’m not saying one way or another what I plan to do, since I don’t really know yet – it would not appear on this blog. It would get a domain or a blog of its own, because this arrangement is oddly lopsided.

 


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31 thoughts on “Rewarding Negative Behavior

  1. Morticutor says:

    There’s a thread on rpg.net following the comics.

    IIRC, rpg.net is huge. Maybe that’s the reason why? I knwo I found this comic from a thread there.

  2. Charlie says:

    When you’ve made a typo or grammatical error in the strip, you usually seem happy to change it when someone points it out. Should I point out that you shouldn’t have an apostrophe in “it’s” in your last line above, or just keep my mouth, er, keyboard…shut.

  3. Carl the Bold says:

    *IF* you do, and your readers think you should, I think you should write it under a pseudonym, and link to it from here and tell everyone how great it is.

    BTW Charlie, I noticed that too. Sharp eye!

  4. Shamus says:

    typo: Fixed. Thanks.

  5. Tango says:

    Someone on LiveJournal linked to you. I shared that link with LJ Support Volunteers, and I found that you were syndicated to LJ as well.

    I’m loving this. keep up the good work!

  6. Rob says:

    I got linked in from DIGG.com in an unrelated story about capchas (sp?). Someone mentioned that your d20 one worked like a charm without scaring off posters (I agree incidently) and linked to your blog. There’s lots of diggers so maybe some others jumped over too. I started with your comics but I’m enjoying your blog too! BTW, your comics are like a support group for us grumpy DMs trying to keep the game interesting! THANKS!

  7. Rich says:

    “If I were to do another comic – and I'm not saying one way or another what I plan to do, since I don't really know yet…”

    Star Wars *poke poke* ;)

  8. Robert says:

    If revenue is a concern, then do not start a new domain for a new comic. Tens of thousands of people know http://www.shamusyoung.com as “the place to get my goodies on” – whatever new you do, keep it here and keep the eyeballs in one place. It doesn’t have to integrate with your blog, but it should integrate with your domain.

  9. Knastymike says:

    For what it’s worth, I like having the comic and blog in one place. Still, I’d rather have an arrangement that makes the creator-of-content most happy, though.

  10. Adam says:

    NOOOOOO!!!!! Don’t move to another place for future possible comics that may, or may not, happen in the near/distant future of plausable happenings.

    I have enjoyed your site (Blogs, comics, articals) and would hate to see you linked all over the place. I myself (after find you) have hooked my wife, roomate and about 20 others into reading and tell everyone of them to click the banners.

    I have been wondering if you were feeling under the weather as your postings have been low the last couple of weeks. Well keep up the work and I hope to seem more from you.

  11. Feylamia says:

    You also get a lot of links from “The Lord of the Rings Online” fan sites and the game is getting more and more popular. :)

  12. Lars says:

    “If I were to do another comic … it would not appear on this blog.”

    I for one, do hope you do another comic, but even though I enjoy reading the blogs, the comic is the main reason I come here – if you put the comic on a different site, I would probably only visit that one.

  13. Alan Post says:

    you know, i originally found this site because of your comic, and i do *really* enjoy new ones when they show up.

    but i read almost every entry you post, and i consider myself one of your blog readers first, with the bonus that i get a comic out of it from time to time. :)

  14. Siliconscout says:

    I completely agree here.

    Keep it on the site. I linked as a comic’s site but I read everything. If you moved it I probably wouldn’t read the blogs that often, perhaps not at all and I really like them.

    More importantly, if the comic were it’s own site then new readers to the comic wouldn’t hit the site and get into your other articles and blog postings.

    Just my 0.05 (inflation ya know.)

  15. Clint Memo says:

    I also enjoy having the two mixed together.

  16. Mark Caliber says:

    I personally discovered you on a forum at SJGames. Your DM of the Ring’s made a cogent point during a recent discussion and a link was offered to nail down a salient point.

    The DM of the Ring’s comic is one of the best that I’ve come across definitely on par with Order of the Stick and Schlock Mercenary. Kudos and keep up the good work!

    I also agree that another comic would be best suited as a link to the shamusyoung.com domain (listed among the other subsidiary sights.)

  17. Stark says:

    Playing D&D again eh? Ya know, I too came here originally for the comic (back around epsiode 15 or so…) but have stayed for the other content. I particlaularly enjoyed your D&D Campaign. While I recogbnize the amount of effort involved in doing so, I sure hope you give your new campaign the same treatment as the one you’ve already detailed here!

  18. Huckleberry says:

    Just a “me too” post:
    Came for comic, stayed for blog, would appreciate new comic (or alternative humerous serial) and think it would be a shame to change a winning team: the comics and the other blog entries work so well together!

    Uh, and: thanks a lot, Shamus!

  19. Darin says:

    I found it through a http://www.coolminiornot.com forum link. They were talking about the Goblins comic, and said that this one was a good read as well.

  20. Mrs T says:

    I don’t even play computer games, but I enjoy reading what you write about them and won’t stop visiting if the comics go away. If you put a new comic somewhere else, I’ll just add that to the rss feed as well, so do what works best for you.

  21. Dix says:

    Spoiling the natural twenty. ;)

    I came here because someone pointed me to the comic. And I LOVE the comic. But I check back daily rather than a couple times a week because of the chance that there’s a blog entry. Insightful commentary on video games, especially RPGs, without a whole lot of that white type on black background hip hip hip ever so cool hey kids we know just what game you’d like next junk, is too great to miss!

  22. Kristin says:

    I came here for the comic. I didn’t even realize there was a blog with it until I’d been reading for a couple weeks because the link I got sent me to the DM of the Rings tag.

    Now I enjoy the blog posts as much as the comic, so I’ll be around whatever you decide to do.

  23. Dan says:

    I started reading your site for the comics (via den beste)… but I find your regular posts even better.

  24. dragonbane says:

    I came for the food, I stayed for the fun. You do what you need to do, but just remember that we gamers HATE change. :P

  25. Thijs says:

    I also got to know your blog through the comic, and reading every entry of it now… I will keep visiting this even after the comic is gone, or moved

    keep up the great work Shamus!

  26. Alexis says:

    I came for the comic, I read you by RSS. I like having DMoTR mixed with the blog, the tags keep it organised and like many have said, it drives cross-adoption.

    BTW it’s raining in England. Like, a lot. Monsoon style. A few people have died due to flooding. Maybe people are staying in to read DMotR with their families.

  27. Maddyanne says:

    Please do keep whatever you do next on the site. I read all your stuff and it’s handy having it all in one place. But whatever you decide to do, I’ll keep reading.

  28. Sem says:

    I came here for a post about the anime ‘Snow Fairy Sugar’. Then I discovered the comic which I, off course, burned through in one go. Coincidently, I started playing D&D for the first time the same month so it had some good pointers what to avoid when roleplaying. I’m also a programmer and used to play RPG’s a lot so your other posts are usually also very interesting.

    So whatever you decide, I’ll keep reading. By the way, care to say which anime you’re watching now ?

  29. andy says:

    Lots of people have said what I wanted to say – came for the comic, and will stay for the blog. I have now read most (not quite all) of the material on the site, and am always impressed with your writing.

    This blog is definitely in the must read category… Thanks for making it!

  30. Miral says:

    Ditto. A coworker sent me a link to the comic (which I enjoy), but I mostly stick around for the rest of the blog (in fact I went back and read most of the archives too!). Which I never would have found otherwise :)

  31. Julia says:

    I agree with Knastymike.

    (I often agree with Knastymike. And even when I don’t agree with him, I find him suitably entertaining, at least.)

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